Professor Tigani El Mahi: Short biography and photos.

offered him the chair of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine which he held up until his death. • He BLOCKINwas BLOCKINthe BLOCKINfirst BLOCKINSudanese BLOCKINPsychiatrist, BLOCKINand BLOCKINhence, known as the father of African Psychiatry. • He conducted numerous original studies on psychological medicine. His visionary community mental health services and their incorporation in the general health have been expressed in his scientific contributions decades ahead of their formal endorsement by the international community [3-5]. • El Mahi also participated in several international conferences such as the 1st Conference on Education of Psychological Medicine where he participated as President, a UN sponsored conference held in Geneva on the application of science and technology in developing countries, and another on the effect of social change on psychological health in New York. • He also delivered more than forty lectures at American universities and institutes during his stay in USA. • He was elected President of the Sudan Doctors' Union and was a member of the Academy of Arabic in Cairo. Moreover, he has also been granted a DSc degree by the University of Colombia in the USA and a DSc degree by the University of Khartoum • El Mahi also mastered a number of languages. In addition to his native Arabic he was also competent in English, Latin, Hausa and Persian. • He compiled a personal library which was classified as one of the most valuable libraries acquired by an individual in the world. The collection itself contains about 19,000 items, 6000 documents which include maps dating to 500 years ago, and 20,000 letters, 5000 of which are rare copies. In 1972 the library was gifted